Will Smith’s new film Emancipation is set to hit theaters in December, his first major project since the infamous snapped Chris Rock at the Oscars in March. Smith posted a trailer for the film on his social media pages and called it “the hardest film I’ve ever made.”
“Blood, sweat and tears… LITERALLY! Kudos to Apple for doubling (and tripling) its commitment to bringing this epic story to the world,” he wrote on Monday.
The film centers on Smith’s character, Peter, an enslaved man who escapes from a Louisiana plantation and heads north. In accordance with apple, the film was inspired by the 1863 photographs “Petro Whipped”. One image, known as the “Flogged Back,” shows Peter’s bare back mutilated by the whips of his captors, and it proved instrumental in changing public sentiment in opposition to slavery.
Emancipation opens in theaters on December 2nd and will be available to stream on Apple+ on December 9th.
The film premiered at an extended screening during the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 51st Annual Legislative Conference last weekend. NAACP President Derrick Johnson was in attendance and praised the film.
“I enjoyed watching the film #Emancipation and I can’t tell you how powerful it is for OUR community and OUR history. It is a story of adversity, resilience, love and triumph,” Johnson tweeted.
The announcement of the film’s release date comes more than six months after Smith punched Rock on stage at the Oscars. Smith hit Rock after he joked about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head. The Rock compared Pinkett Smith to ‘J Jane’ because she’s bald due to diagnosis alopecia, which causes hair loss.
Smith publicly apologized to Rock, and the Academy announced that Smith would be banned from any of their events for 10 years following the incident. Although Smith has also resigned from the Academy, he is eligible to be nominated and win.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/will-smith-emancipation-oscars-slap/
